I Was on the Bash on the Boat 10/24/09 Magic Eastern with Pictures updated 3/16/2010!

[CRSNDSNY]

Awesome TR so far! I'm really enjoying the details and pics. Your kids are so cute and look great all dressed up!

 

[slenderella]

This is an awsome trip report. I have never been on any cruise and cannot wait until our 2011 trip. This makes me want to go NOW!!! I am looking forward to the rest of the report.
Jonna

 

[Topscot]

Hello CaptChris......anyone there?! I wanna hear more!

 

[Dyerneeds]

come on chris. get that typewriter out and give us an update.

 

[captchris]

Ok, I am kind of back. I should resume the trip report in a few days at the very latest.

 

[captchris]

Day #3--St. Maarten

After two awesome sea days, we were ready to disembark for our first stop, St. Maarten. As usual, I was up early and wandering around the ship. On cruises, I rarely sit still. I love to wander about and when in Port, see the other ships and the mooring procedures. Off in the distance, I saw the Liberty of the Seas getting ready to pull in alongside the Magic. This was neat to see this massive ship. Despite its larger size, I so prefer the theme and overall ambiance of the Magic.

After wasting just a little bit more time than I would have liked, I decided to go and meet up with the family and go to breakfast. On the way, much to Jay's surprise and happiness, who should we see walking alongside us, but half of Alfred and Seymour. Jay was so happy and asked for a picture.

You will know from previous posts, that Jay was so into Alfred and Seymour. I will say that they were incredibly funny and that I too, enjoyed their act. I hope they are still cruising the Caribbean on our next cruise.

After Breakfast we gathered our stuff together and made our way to the gangplank for a wonderful day at the beach. We are very much a beach family and typically, that is what we do on cruises.

When we made our way to the water taxi, I was immediately struck by the water. This wasn't my first time in the Caribbean, but they azure water always blows me away at first sight. I shapped a few pictures to just bask in this while I freeze away in New England.

I saw this and thought to myself..."That's the life!"

We soon found our way to Great Bay Beach, scored...I mean, paid for some chairs and just enjoyed the day together. We were pleased that Chaz and his family were closeby and enjoyed talking to them as we swam and enjoyed the day.

Later on, we got a couple of jet skis and had a great time. My dad felt that if we waited until later in the day to get them, we would get a better deal. I think we got a slightly better deal, and had a great time riding the skis. First I took the two kids with me. Samantha got scared after 10 minutes or so, so I took her back in. Elaine then got on, but she too got tired of it. Soon it was just me and Jay, then for the last few minutes, I buzzed around and broke new sea speed records on the jet ski...

Some pictures from the day...

After showers, it was time for dinner back on the ship. It was the Pirates In the Caribbean menu and on the last cruise, that was my favorite menu. This time, it was good, but not quite as good as last time. As usual, we were next to good friends in Parrot Cay and we enjoyed the Pirate themed dinner.

Later in the evening, we spotted Captain Jack Sparrow and insisted on getting pictures with him.

Even our towel animal that evening, kept to the pirate themed...albeit slightly!

That night, we were up on deck for the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party. I scored a decent spot for pictures and soon the family was joining me in my "saved" shhhhh spot.

I wandered around a bit after the party, the family went to bed and I scored some chocolate chip cookies, brownies and milk. Now if you know me well enough off the cruise, I typically have some sort of chocolate snack with milk each night between 9:00 and 10:00 PM. I had to keep to that on the cruise!

Next up St. Thomas/St. John!

 

[danandnan]

Hello everyone! We have just returned home from an absolutely wonderful cruise vacation. We settled on the specific cruise in August of 2008 and spent the last 14 months getting to know fellow DISers here on our cruise meet thread. While I didn't get to meet all of them onboard, seeing familiar faces throughout the day really made the cruise that much more special. Okay, enough gushing now for the background and housekeeping information.

I am Christian...the writer of the report and DISname CaptChris. I don't profess to want to be the captain of anything except my that it is my professional title. Although being a Captain on DCL would be kind of cool! I am a Captain in The Salvation Army. What that means is that I am responsible for all Salvation Army operations in the community that I am stationed in. In addition to that, I am also an ordained minister with The Salvation Army and responsible for the church programs in our community.

DW Elaine...the Captains First Mate and also a Captain herself in The Salvation Army. We live and work together. That can sometimes be a challenge, but its more good that bad.

Samantha and Jay...our two kids. They can be hyper, they can fight like none other, but we love them and they probably love each other a little bit. Samantha is 9, Jay is 7. There is NEVER a dull moment when the two of them are together!

We also cruised with my mom, dad and sister. It was great to have this TOTAL vacation with them. More clarification on that a little later.

This was our third cruise. The first was on RCCL Nordic Empress/Empress of the Seas. It was in March 2004 and was a 7 day Western Cruise out of Tampa.

Our second cruise was on the Disney Magic in 9/2006. It was also a Western cruise itinerary.

My parents have been on 4 previous cruises, 2 on the Magic and 2 on Norwegian (SS Norway, and Norwegian Sea)

We were really looking forward to visiting the Eastern Caribbean for a couple of reasons.

-Additional Sea Day
-More "texture" to the land

Now on to the report...

My vacation started officially on 10/22. Elaine and I spent the day at home getting things packed, and finalized before picking our kids home from school at dismissal time. After the kids were picked up, we headed north to Portland, Maine where we would stay with my parents before flying out on 10/23. I know, I know, its kind of bizarre to drive north to fly south, but the flight times were perfect and the price was as well. The bags were packed and in short time the car was loaded.

We arrived in Maine around 6:00 PM and enjoyed Pizza and Stromboli with my family before watching the Yankees and Angels.

The next morning we woke up and mom cooked a wonderful brunch. However prior to brunch, Elaine sent me out for some Dunkin Donuts coffee. After brunch, we loaded up the cars and got ready to head over to Portland International Jetport for our flight to Orlando. Everyone was excited and after a 5 minute ride we were checking in at the JetBlue kiosk.

Before we knew it we were through security and walking to the gate. It didn't seem long before our plane landed and pulled up at the gate.

It was our first time flying JetBlue and I must say, I really liked their product. We had a direct flight from Portland to Florida. We left on time and arrived a few minutes early. That's always a good thing. The baggage claim was also lightning fast as the carousel started moving just a few minutes after we arrived at the Baggage Claim.

After securing our bags, Dad and I headed to Budget to get our cars. He was not a FastBreak member so he had to go to the regular counter. I stood up there with him to make sure his reservation was good since I booked it for him. While up there he succumbed to peer pressure from the agent and myself and ended up with a very nice ride.

Yep, my dad was styling in a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. A red one at that! It's funny because when I was a kid my parents had a red Camaro, but much different that this one! They have changed a lot in 30 years. Since he needed me to take a piece or two of luggage, I resisted the urge to buy an upgrade. I settled for an Impala, but it was a brand new Impala with only 800 miles on it. Sorry, no pictures of that! I will say that the Cadillac CTS parked in the first slot in the garage looked awfully inviting, but I didn't want us to have a luggage issue.

We drove to Port Canaveral, keeping it under 80mph. We arrived at the Radisson, checked in and quickly headed over to Grills for dinner. The Radisson is a great property and I will stay there again for future cruises.

Dinner was great at Grills. After dinner, we came back to the hotel, and as I was pulling in Dan (DISname danandnan) sent me a text message asking me if I was coming down to the DISmeet. I responded an affirmative and that I would be there in a few minutes. I let the kids swim for a few, then Elaine and I went over to meet the DISers that were over there. We met, Dan, Nancy K, Nancy G and Chuck, Joanne and Roger, Tom and Leisha, Mike and Robin, Rose and June, Heather and Rick, Jennifer and Ariel, and Ron and Dianne. I think I got everyone but if I omitted you I am sooooo sorry!

After a short time together the group broke and we all went to bed. We would have quite the day in the morning!

It was still too early for me, so me and Tracy drove into Cocoa, walked through Ron Jon's, walked on the beach and at Freddie Patrick Park. It was a good time to have that little bit of time together as siblings.

Next chapter...Embarkation Day.

Great job Chris. We will miss you my friend and your family this time around. I hope with the will of god we will all cruise again together. We had a very special group Chris. At least we can always keep in touch

 

[croppincolburn]

Love the fireworks picture. Enjoying your trip report. Glad you are posting more of it.

 

[Dyerneeds]

glad to have you back chris.

 

[captchris]

glad to have you back chris.

Good to be back Dawg.

 

[mickeyluv]

Loving your report Chris! We were also on this cruise and I'm really enjoying ready your report and remembering all the fun we had on this cruise!

 

[GOS]

Day #3--St. Maarten

After two awesome sea days, we were ready to disembark for our first stop, St. Maarten. As usual, I was up early and wandering around the ship. On cruises, I rarely sit still. I love to wander about and when in Port, see the other ships and the mooring procedures. Off in the distance, I saw the Liberty of the Seas getting ready to pull in alongside the Magic. This was neat to see this massive ship. Despite its larger size, I so prefer the theme and overall ambiance of the Magic.

Well said...welcome back Chris.

 

[Karen Mouse]

Keep it coming Chris, good to see you back on here

 

[captchris]

No intentional delay friends. I have to upload the rest of my pictures to photobucket and that is a time consuming process. Definitely tonight or tomorrow I will start again!

 

[danandnan]

HI Everybody

It's nice to see some us still posting.

Heather, Chris , Mike we just have to keep it going right dawg??

 

[GOS]

HI Everybody

It's nice to see some us still posting.

Heather, Chris , Mike we just have to keep it going right dawg??

Yes, we do.

 

[Dee73]

Hi Chris,

It has been forever since I have been on any BOB sites. Tianna still talks about Samantha and how much fun she had with all of her friends on the trip. I'm enjoying reading your trip report. Hope that all is going well with you guys! Your pictures are great ... good camera choice there.

Take care,
Dianne

 

[Deweysgirl]

Love your trip report! I just finished reading Underdog's yesterday and it's so cool to see two families perspective of the same cruise. Your family is beautiful! Keep it comin!

 

[Tart Annihilator]

Happy to see you back Chris. Keep it coming!

 

[danandnan]

OK Chris, I finally took the time to read your whole TR - so now I'm waiting for you to post some more. Pirate night is only half way through!

Nancy